1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for tailoring a graphical user interface.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A personal computer user with access to the internet can use a web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator to access the server of a web page with graphical content. To specify a web site, the user enters a universal resource locator (URL) specifying both the server and the specific data ("web page") requested. The URL may specify a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) or another transfer protocol for communicating between the server and the browser. In the internet, the URL is transmitted to the host server which stores information corresponding to the URL.
Subsequent to receipt of a request for the contents of a URL location, the host server provides the web page in the hyper-text markup language (HTML) format which includes specific processing instructions to the browser. The web page may include video or audio streams in addition to graphics and text. However, the browser displays the contents of the web pages thus far inside the display window. By limiting customization of a web page to only the contents of a window, a web page designer is limited in his or her freedom to communicate with viewers. Thus what is needed is a way for a web page designer to customize the appearance of a graphical web page free of the limits imposed by the browser.